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Sitara’s eyes flew to Aarav’s face.
“Not at all, Dr. Pathak,” he drawled. “I promise not to leave Dr. Narayan’s side until the entire duration of the cruise.”
CHAPTER 5
Sitara watched in shock while the helicopter flew away with Captain Chandran and Dr. Pathak on board.
She blinked and then turned to see that her luggage was taken out along with a single carryon bag. A cruise member placed them on a tall luggage cart and took them inside.
“Let’s go,” Aarav ordered.
Sitara snapped out of her shocked daze and grabbed his shirt on his arm to stop him from walking away. The hard muscle under the shirt moved, making her snatch her hand away. But it made him stop and turn towards her.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” she asked angrily.
“I’m going to check-in to the cruise.”
“You know what I mean!” she hissed. “You know we can’t be together during the cruise.”
He looked at her. “Why not?”
“Because of our past history!”
His eyes flashed but the rest of his face remained the same. “I’m here as a professional. My job is to protect you while there is an investigation going on to find out who is behind that break-in.”
Sitara continued to shake her head. “I can go to my friend’s house and stay until things are sorted. I’ll let Dr. Pathak know later when she calms down.”
“You might put your friend and her family at risk.”
Sitara’s stomach sank at the thought. “T-then, I’ll go on the cruise alone. You don’t have to accompany me. I don’t think there will be any threat onboard.”
“We don’t know that for sure.”
She was annoyed by his matter-of-fact tone. Before she could say anything more, he began walking away. He went towards the check-in area.
It was a huge place with over twenty counters receiving passengers standing in long lines. He walked towards the counters that said priority check-in. She followed while trying to think of a way to stop him.
“Welcome to Symphony,” a woman wearing the cruise uniform greeted with a bright smile. “Are you ready to check-in, sir and madam?”
Sitara wanted to yell no.
“Yes,” Aarav drawled. “But we’d like to change our cabins.”
She didn’t think it was necessary to change their cabins, but she knew her argument would go wasted. Aarav Rathod always did what he wanted. The jerk wouldn’t listen, especially to her.
Maybe it was a good thing to change the cabins because they might not get side-by-side suites like how she and Dr. Pathak had booked. She hoped his cabin suite would be far away, maybe on a completely different floor from hers. She wouldn’t have to see him most of the time then. She could plan her time in such a way that she’d be in her room or places like women’s spas where he wouldn’t be allowed.
Since there were four thousand passengers onboard and the cruise ship was massive, she could easily slip away from his notice and ignore his calls.
Yes, that’s much better.
While she made her plans, he finished making the cabin changes and joined her.
“Let’s go,” he ordered again. “The luggage will be brought in later.”
She followed him on the carpeted area that led them to the center of the ship that was open. It looked stunning. She could see all the sixteen floors from top to bottom. And the interior shone in colors of gold and red and it looked like a high-end luxury star hotel with several winding staircases at the center and a massive crystal skylight on the ceiling.
Each floor had shops or live show theaters or cafes that made it appear like a high-end shopping mall. Every floor was filled with passengers and the several cruise staff was attending to them. The lifts were on all sides, but all of them seemed to be packed with people waiting for their turn. Aarav went towards one of the smaller lifts where no one was waiting. It readspecial access, but he scanned a card at the panel that opened the lift doors.
